Fire of The Tiger
by 8MilesThatWay
Summary: Tigress gets a lead that could lead her to her parents. But she gets much more than she bargains for as she goes off alone finding things out she wished she never did. Though what doesn't kill her makes her more furious.
1. Chapter 1

What's one thing more dangerous than a hyena?

Tightly clutching a katana in her paw, Tigress stood alone in a circle of carnage. Her right eye stitched closed forever, arms and chest bandaged, and blood stained her fur. She was the only one left standing around the broken bodies of animals. Their unwisely chosen paths had brought them their deaths with no honor. Now Tigress had one more thing left to do. One more life to take away. Dropping the sword to the ground(not needed any longer), she stepped over the dead bodies and limped forward to the Indigo Palace's doors. Pushing it open and slowly closing it, she took a long golden chain, wrapped it around the handles and locked it in place. There would be no escaping for Hye Na or Tigress now. Not any quick one...

The sound of clapping paws started to sound behind her. Turning her head, Tigress laid eyes on an old hyena dressed in black and yellow robes. This was Hye Na. The one that she was here to slaughter.

"You've done wonderful! Excellent! Farther than your parents have ever gotten!" complimented Hye Na happily. "They would be so proud of you."

"No..." Tigress disagreed, shaking her head. "I don't think they would."

"But why? You have done so much! Came so far!"

"I came to kill you," Tigress stated.

"For your parents?" Hye Na said angrily. "How many times must I say it? They have broken-"

Tigress cut him off. "Not for my parents. Not even for myself."

The hyena looked baffled for a moment then made a wide smile. "Aaah. For him, then?"

Limping closer to Hye Na, Tigress swiftly went into her fighting stance; she curtly nodded. "I'm going to kill you now."

"Don't be a fool! Your body has taken too much damage to defeat me!" Hye Na took a step closer to Tigress. "I beg you! Let me spare you!"

"My body may be damaged," Tigress agreed. "But my mind is stronger than ever."

"I regret this..." Hye Na sadly shook his head. "You could be so much more."

Ripping off his robes to show his hard, strong body, Hye Na took his own fighting pose. The end of it all was now to begin.

**Fire of The Tiger**

* * *

_This was the ending of it all, not where it began. In this story you will read of Tigress' long journey of finding truth of her parents, pain, sorrow, and love._

* * *

_This is just the intro. I promise to make the chapters longer than 1000 words at least. Enjoy._


	2. The Mission

**The Mission**

Dragon the adult tiger was in his room doing his usual chin ups when a knock on his door came to his attention. He called for the one to enter as he continued his workout. Coming inside his room was a gray goose that trembled from head to foot as he spoke, "I- I b- beg your pardon Master Dragon," stuttered the Goose. "But Master Hye Na wishes to have your presence in the Fighting Hall at once."

Dragon dropped down from the bar and turned into the light. Dragon had a tall, brawny build, dark green eyes and scars around his chest, shoulders and back. He wore nothing but indigo-colored pants with the art of dragons stitched on the legs. Saying he was on his way, the Goose bowed respectfully and quickly scurried out of the room. Pitiful creature thought Dragon picking up his torso (also indigo) he slipped it on and headed out of his room, hurrying to the Fight Hall. Dragon spent may years in the Indigo palace serving his master, he knew that his master's orders were never to be ignored kept waiting. As a young tiger, he learned those lessons from hard beatings if he was ever late upon a command. Now he was the leader of the Dark Stars; the second one in their legacy to survive so many missions.

Exiting out of two great big doors, Dragon walked in upon the sight of over a hundred predators gathered around a long arena where two tigers were brutally fighting. In the middle of the crowd, he recognized his master sitting on his golden throne watching the fight. He made his way around his fellow fighters and went to Hye Na's side. Thrusting his right elbow out, Dragon knelt at his side and made his presence known.

"Master Hye Na."

Hye Na kept his focus on the fight as he motioned for Dragon to stand. He did so wondering why he was summoned.

"Those two seem to have a lot of spirit, don't they?" Hey Na asked Dragon.

Dragon turned his eyes on the fight. "We don't rely on spirit, Master."

"Correct," Hye Na agreed, nodding. "Of course I don't need to tell you what we rely on."

Dragon curtly nodded. Hye Na said nothing. They both continued to watch the two tigers fight. Their bloody faces have told Dragon they have fought for quite some time now, but neither of them had the breaking point to collapse and give up. Dragon had attended and fought in many of Dark Stars tournaments, though he wondered why there was a fight now. All tournaments were brought to his attention days before they started. Dragon kept the questions to himself. He knew better than to ask why his master's orders were not brought to his attention. Dragon only had command when Hye Na said so.

Just then one of the tiger's managed to deliver a hard kick to his opponent's throat. The tiger went down on his knees coughing up blood. The other tiger showed no restraint to stop. He raised his fist up high and looked over to Hye Na; Hye Na raised a paw for him to stop, Guess Hye Na is feeling generous today thought Dragon. It wouldn't have been the first time for all of them to see the loser be killed by the winner. Dragon had killed a few himself, because only if Hye Na was disappointed in the loser's ability. They clearly were not meant to be among them. Every member was born into the clan and the only way you leave the Dark Stars is by death.

Hye Na waved a finger for the winner to come forward to him. The Tiger walked through the line of warriors and bowed at Hye Na's feet.

"Dismissed!" Hye Na called loudly to his warriors.

The order was followed in an instant. Everyone left in a hurry except for the coughed-up-blood who struggled to his feet; a rhino came forth and picked him up by the scruff of the neck, "Move!" the rhino shouted, dragging him out the Hall.

Once the three were alone, Hye Na stood up.

"Rise," Hye Na ordered to the tiger.

The Tiger got up to his feet and lifted his head. Bleeding from the nose and mouth, and a gash along the side of his head, he stood like he felt no pain of it.

"Dragon, meet Ty," Hyena said. "He has just won the chance to be assisting you in your next mission."

The news stung Dragon's ears. If there was a two predator job, then Dragon had the capability of being four predators for it. However, he held his tongue and measured Ty up. He appeared to be about thirty years old, strong yet thin build, dark amber eyes and had the look of a killer. Bu then, looks could be deceiving.

Hye Na stood up. "Come, walk with me." The two tigers followed through the palace Hye Na as he spoke. "For many years I have searched and searched for something that was stolen from me, but now I believe I have found it!"

They stopped in front of a door that led into Hye Na's personal room. He unlocked it and entered with the tigers right behind them. The room was shortly smaller than half the Fighting Hall. Against the wall were a bunch of scrolls squeezed together. Hye Na slid one out and laid it on a table next to two others.

"May I ask on what you searched for, Master?" Dragon asked curiously.

"Not what. Who," he answered, laying out a scroll showing it to be a map. "Many miles from here in China there is a place called the Valley of Peace. In those lands is the Jade Palace, do you know of it?"

Dragon and Ty shook their heads saying in unison, "No, Master." They were far from the lands of China after all.

"Well, as I was saying, in the Valley of Peace there lives a couple of highly skilled warriors, and one of them is," Hye Na laid out another scroll revealing the painting of a fierce tiger, "a tiger. Known as Tigress."

"Is this what was stolen from you, Master?" asked Dragon, staring at the tiger's painting.

"She was meant to be one of my warriors but her parents had hidden her from me," explained Hye Na. "They paid the price. Though, I still wanted what rightfully belongs to me. To the Dark Stars."

"She seems rather uncontrollable," noticed Dragon.

"That's why I'm sending Ty with you," replied Hye Na. "You are to go to the Valley and bring her back home alive. You both set out tomorrow," Hye Na rolled up the map and handed it to Dragon, the painting to Ty. "Don't fail me. Because if you do, don't come back. I'll send someone else to retrieve her and kill you. Understood?"

"Yes, Master," they both said again.

Hye Na dismissed them and they walked out together to prepare for their long journey tomorrow. Hye Na smiled pleasantly to himself as he looked forward to meeting Tigress again. When she would arrive, he would break her into the Dark Stars whether she liked it or not.

**8**

Ty and Dragon walked side by side together down the halls. Dragon still felt offended on not being sent alone.

"Do you have any plans for this mission?" Ty asked Dragon.

"One: you staying out of my way," growled Dragon.

"We will be needing a strategy," replied Ty impatiently. "As Master Hye Na said: you can't do this alone!"

He had said the wrong words. Dragon grabbed Ty by the throat and slammed his against the wall cracking it deeply. Ty choked from Dragon's grasp as he snarled in his face, "You're coming, because Master says so. I say you just stay out of my way and we'll get along just fine."

Releasing Ty, Dragon swiftly left him rubbing his throat, "Better stay out of my way, Dragon," he whispered. "You have no idea what game you're playing here."


	3. The Tiger's Tears

**The Tiger's Tears**

_Master Tigress_

_We gratefully accept your offer of living among our village with the promise of protection and safety. Your quarters are already set up and a room for your personal training needs. We all look forward to your presence._

_Chief Bo_

The message was gripped in Tigress' paw which she had read countless times now it was stuck in her memory. This was the answer she was waiting for. The go ahead to leave, forget and never let anyone else come close to her. Master Shifu had passed on a week ago. The pain of his loss struck her hard inside as she was the only one by his side when the fatal disease took what was left of his body. She never knew the pain of ... loving someone could hurt so much. What was worse that made her feel so heartless was that she was the only one that had not shed any tears. Even though she wanted to and tried forcing herself, she couldn't cry. Why? she wondered.

Now what was left to do? A team of warriors that buried their master on top of the hill with nothing left to do but grieve. It was obvious to all of them that Tigress was to be leading them now but she secretly didn't want that. Losing her parents was one thing, she never truly overcame that and now the one thing that came closest to a parent was dead. Lost. The thought of losing anyone else of her family was too painful to think about. Things were quiet all week like tonight. Tigress had to take the advantage of leaving with a clean break. She would leave no note or any direction of where she was going.

Tucking the scroll in her pocket, Tigress picked up a bag holding a couple changes of clothes and money. Not wanting to make this dramatic, Tigress stepped out of her room and walked past the doors of what was rest of her family. Silently walking down the hall, Tigress made it outside with no second thoughts. Looking out over the Valley, Tigress took a deep breath and made her first step to her new life.

"Where you going?" a voice suddenly spoke.

Tigress jumped. Looking back, she saw Po sitting on a small boulder. She should have known Po was going to somehow not make this easy. She swallowed hard and answered, "I'm going to be going away for a while."

Po stood up. "Really? Where?"

"I can't tell you that," Tigress lied. "It's a hard core thing."

"You don't have to leave, Tigress," Po stated, seeing through her lies. "We need you here."

"I'm needed elsewhere, Po. Goodbye."

Tigress turned to leave. Po came running in front of her.

"Look," he said pleadingly. "We all took Shifu's death-"

"Don't," Tigress warned.

"- so hard. But as long as we have each other, we'll get through it. Warriors don't quit! I know you're feeling hurt and-"

"You want to know how I feel?" Tigress snapped, dropping her bag down. "I don't feel hurt, sad, angry, depressed, nor happy. I feel ... I feel nothing ... I'm moving on."

"Shifu wouldn't want-"

"I know what Shifu wouldn't want!" Tigress growled lowly. "This is what I want. I've made up my mind."

Tigress picked up her bag and walked past Po who stood there stunned. She was almost at the bottom of the stairs when Po was shortly behind her, calling, "You're running away from what you want to feel! You can't run from it all! You just need to let it out! I- we can help you with that!" Po extended his paw for her to come back. "It's OK to cry, Tigress. I'm here with a shoulder."

Tigress had her reply ready, "I'm really sorry, Po. I'm just too hard core." Without another word or a look back, she continued her leave. "Don't follow me!" she called out once she was at the bottom.

Again, Tigress wondered why she couldn't cry as she walked out the gates. Maybe Po was right. Maybe she just needed help on how to let her emotions out, recover from the pain and become stronger. But then, asking for help was one of the things she found ever so hard to do. Especially when it was an emotional problem. It was like a rock hard door to her heart denied anyone entry. Not even she herself could open it. The only one who maybe could have taught her how was gone for good. This really is the best for me she thought, I'm going where I could do good and not have to feel. I'll be living, breathing stone warrior. The perfect kind her new home would need.

_What would you see yourself doing if you never studied Kung Fu? _

_I? Well, I never gave that a thought. How about you, Tigress? What would you see yourself doing?_

_Never gave it a thought._

_Tigress and Shifu laughed together._

Tigress put a paw over her face and gritted her teeth. Taking a chain out of her pocket, she laid it out on her paw. On the chain was two pendants. One was the Chinese symbol of Strength that Shifu had given her as a welcome home gift. The other pendant was an indigo star; the only thing her parents had left her with when they left. Impatiently shaking her head, Tigress chucked it out to the darkness. The past was going to destroy her. She knew it would unless she cleaned the slate and moved on from the place where she lost and gained a home that brought sorrow to her mind. She was going to be fine once she got to the village. Live a life full of Kung Fu, her antidepressant. Nothing else would keep her alive.

**8**

Days later, Tigress had made it to the village without any incidents by nightfall. At the gates of the village, there was a black pug dog sitting in front of a small fire. He rose up at her presence and bowed.

"We have been awaiting your arrival, Master Tigress," he informed. "You have had a long journey, though our Chief has requested to see you as soon you have arrived here. I am to escort you to his home."

Tigress slowly nodded and followed the pug through the gates and into the dark village. The village easily spoke of peace and inhabited hard workers. Though she was accepted here because they were short on warriors and were targets for bandits and thieves. Coming to the largest house of the village, a tall red house, the pug knocked twice on the door, it immediately swung open by an old white shepherd dog wearing black robes. His face broke into a warm, welcoming smile.

"Come in, Master Tigress, if you'll please!" he invited eagerly. "I was hoping you would arrive tonight for I was starting to worry."

"Your worry is not needed for me, Chief Bo," Tigress said, entering the home of Bo.

Chief Bo thanked the pug, handed him a small sac of gold and bade him goodnight. Closing the door behind him, he first offered Tigress for something to eat or drink; she politely refused.

"Then before I show you your new home, there is something I wish to discuss with you," Chief Bo said, leading her to a small room with two long pillows laid across from each other, and a small green box in between. He rested his knees on one and gestured for Tigress to take the other one before him.

"Now as you know my village is combined full of peace, family and help for those in need," Chief Bo began. "I have great faith in you for protecting my people. Is my faith well placed?"

"Yes, Sir," Tigress nodded.

"Can I trust you to uphold our laws and never use your power for personal gain?"

"Yes, Sir," Tigress repeated.

"Then with great pleasure, I give you our finest treasure."

Opening the green box, the white Shepherd brought out a blood red mask with the yin yang symbol painted over the forehead of it. Chief Bo held it out to Tigress, she gently took it from him.

"By accepting this mask means you are accepting a great honor and responsibility," Chief Bo explained. "Do you understand?"

Tigress bowed with the mask in her paws, "I will not fail you... Master."

**...**

Tigress's new home was set right next by Chief Bo's. It was slightly smaller but it was her first ever house. Now all alone in the house, the first thing Tigress noticed in the first room was a mirror on the wall. Dropping her bag down, Tigress walked up to the mirror with the mask in paw. With the moon shining through a window, Tigress had enough light to see her reflection. She stared hard at herself as if she waited for something to happen. Then something did happen. A memory whispered in her ear. The words of Shifu before he died.

_I'm proud of you, Tigress. I always have been to have you as a daughter..._

Snapping back to reality, Tigress' mood turned angry. Gripping the mask hard, she punched it into the mirror. Glass shattered to the floor, the mask remained whole, but Tigress was now broken. Falling back into the wall, she dropped the mask and slid down to her knees. Then... unable to stop herself, she buried her face in her paws and began to cry.


End file.
